


Disconnect

by 100percentfluffster



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben loves Klaus, Ben sticks up for Klaus, Ben tells the fam what's up, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, I really struggle to write anything without some luther bashing, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus general angst, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Slight Luther bashing, They go back in time, They're all alive and thirteen again, Wholesome, but no incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 15:07:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18263822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100percentfluffster/pseuds/100percentfluffster
Summary: “You wanna know why there’s a disconnect? Because I see Klaus and you guys don’t, and after years and years of Klaus being the only one who could see me, I get that feeling."Ben derails a family meeting meant to discuss Ben's distant behavior to talk about Klaus and the way they treat him.





	Disconnect

**Author's Note:**

> There can never be too many fics about Ben reaming the fam over their treatment of Klaus. Am I right or am I right?

Ben and Klaus showed up late for the family meeting. It was past midnight, the only time Reginald wasn’t keeping close tabs on them, and on the roof so they wouldn’t be overheard or caught. The two were giggling and holding a box of frozen waffles each. They looked so young and so normal. They quickly sat down near the others and opened their boxes. For a long moment, the only sound was Klaus mumbling to himself and the crinkling of the waffle packaging. 

“Good of you two to show up finally,” Luther said with all the pent up frustration obvious in his tone. 

Klaus just waved a hand, one that conspicuously had Goodbye written in Sharpie on the palm, a poor substitute for his dear tattoos. “Sneaking out of and then back into this damn house is a work of art, you can’t rush art, Luther,” Klaus said with a wink in his brother’s direction. 

Ben didn’t say a word just raised an eyebrow and started stuffing a non-toasted frozen waffle into his mouth. After a long silence in which everyone watched Klaus and Ben devour at least four waffles each, Ben eventually rolled his eyes and waved his hands trying to signal for them to get a move on. 

Klaus shyly handed Diego one of his chocolate chip waffles which was promptly stuffed whole into Diego’s mouth and Klaus cackled loudly. Ben gave a wry grin and smacked Klaus lightly in the shoulder. 

“That’s it!” Luther boomed. Klaus stopped laughing to give a wary look at Ben and then Luther. 

“What is?” Klaus asked as he fiddled with one of the flaps on the waffle box in his lap. His eyes wandered over Luther’s shoulder and Klaus stuffed another waffle in his mouth as his eyes moved back to Luther like it was a struggle to look his brother in the eye. 

“We’re supposed to be a team here,” Luther said. “But you two aren’t being team players!” The not giant but still large frame of Luther’s teenage body shifted to gesture at Ben and Klaus as a unit. 

Klaus just looked confused. “What are you talking about? I’m helping Vanya with her powers! I mean, I may be new at this whole teaching thing, but I think we’ve actually made some real progress. Vanya hasn’t blown up the moon even once!” 

Vanya gave an unsure but real smile in Klaus’ direction even as Luther and Allison both flinched heavily at the mention of the moon. “We’re working on singling out specific noises and honing in on it,” she said softly.

Klaus gave an overly enthusiastic nod and gestured with half a waffle in hand, “Yeah, see I’m  _ very _ good at ignoring things, so really it’s not that much of a stretch to turn that around to  _ noticing _ things. Right?” Klaus looked around and found only Ben and Vanya nodding along. Diego was busy looking out at the cityscape, Five looked like he’d mentally clocked out of the entire conversation from the beginning, and Luther and Allison both looked like they were one second away from snapping. “You can all applaud my genius at a later date, don’t worry.” 

“We need to take this second chance seriously!” Luther hissed. He waved a hand in Vanya’s direction which made her noticeably flinch as he said, “Vanya needs us to be a team! We’re here to do this together!” 

“Aren’t we?” Klaus questioned. “We’re all sitting here and taking part in this stupid meeting, right?” Klaus glanced at Five before adding, “Well except for our little psycho who seems to be somewhere else right now. Can’t really blame him though.” 

“What was the point of this meeting, Luther?” Ben finally said. Luther looked over to find those dark eyes piercing through him and Luther was suddenly overcome with another surge of anger and frustration, because who  _ was  _ Ben even? He didn’t recognize him. 

“You  _ are _ the point of this meeting, Ben.” 

Allison was nodding beside Luther and her hands were clasped together in her lap. “We’ve just noticed a bit of a disconnect between you and the rest of us. We know that coming back from the dead must have been difficult and we just want to be there for you in any way we can,” she said. Her voice was melodious and sincere even as she eyed Klaus up speculatively. Like maybe he was the problem. 

Ben was furious. He knew what they all wanted from him and really that conversation was long overdue. He took a breath and said, “Klaus, go inside.” 

Everyone blinked in surprise and Five actually started in place and zoned back into the conversation. Ben turned to look at Klaus and his face softened. Klaus was spaced out and staring off in Five’s general direction. He must be having a bad concentration day, Ben had seen it before, there was probably a lot of background noise and stimulus that they couldn’t see. He reached out and gently smacked Klaus’ elbow to grab the other boy’s attention. Klaus immediately turned back to Ben with a shaky smile, “What?” 

“Go inside, Klaus,” Ben repeated firmly. 

Klaus hesitated but then nodded and handed Diego his last waffle before he wandered away in the direction of the door. It was easier than Ben expected and he had to wonder just how bad a day Klaus was actually having. He’d need to check in as soon as he could. Klaus started mumbling to himself again as he walked away from them and the sound of his voice got quieter until it finally cut off when the door to the building closed heavily behind him. 

The silence was uncomfortable as Ben’s eyes slid over each and every one of them in quiet consideration. “This conversation has been a long time coming, you know that, right?” 

Allison nodded and replied, “Yes. We understand that you must be feeling some sense of obligation to be around Klaus, but you don’t have to. The rest of us are here for you too.” 

Luther smiled at Allison before he added, “We all know how Klaus can be. He’s not your responsibility alone. We’re a  _ team _ .” 

Five looked pained and Diego looked confused. Vanya looked blank but it was curbed by the way she held her body, clearly uncomfortable with Luther’s words. Ben just sighed and leaned back on his hands, kicking his feet in front of him. “You guys just don’t get it.” 

“We’ll obviously never understand what you’ve been through but we want to help,” Allison said. 

“You want to help me. But not Klaus.” Ben’s body language was nonchalant and casual but the intensity of his eyes was everything but. “Never Klaus.” 

“What are you talking about?” Five questioned with a tilt to his head that seemed to imply that he was the one with the answer. 

“You do realize that you may not have seen me in twelve years, but I’ve sure as hell seen all of you. I’ve been with Klaus since the day I died.” Ben glared around at his siblings as he waited for that to really sink in. It’d been implied over the last couple of weeks, but Ben wanted them to  _ understand _ . “Every time you disregarded him I was there. Every time you refused to believe him I was there. Every time you  _ hurt _ him I was there, forced to watch you walk all over him.” 

“That was-” Allison started to say. 

“So yeah, I’m happy to be alive and here with you, but I can’t say I’m overly happy to be around you right now. I’m more than a little frustrated and ashamed of each of you.” Ben stopped to chuckle darkly and Five saw something move underneath Ben’s skin near his collarbone. “You know, the whole apocalypse fiasco, I swear the only person who had a single brain cell for that whole disaster besides Five, was Klaus.” 

“Klaus didn’t even do anything!” Luther protested. 

“Well, he did conjure and then make Ben corporeal and save all of our asses in the theatre,” Diego supplied. 

“But that was Ben!” Luther insisted. 

“I couldn’t have done that without Klaus, but that’s not really what I meant,” Ben replied. “Klaus was the only one who continuously reached out. He was the one that said on multiple occasions that we should find Vanya and  _ ask _ her what was going on. He was the one that said we shouldn’t lock her up. He was the one that tried to help Diego find those crazy masked assassins. He was the one that helped Luther when he was drunk and high off of dad’s disappointments. He was the only one that believed Five the first time around. But none of you took one second to listen to him or take him seriously. Even before the apocalypse, he was the only one that even attempted to be there for any of you.” 

Ben pointed at Allison, “He stole each and every one of your movies the moment they were released and then called to leave you a message about how proud he was of you.” Allison looked down at her lap and bit her lip. 

Ben looked at Vanya then, “He went to several of your concerts, the ones that he could, even after the whole book thing.” 

“He literally got kicked out and banned from the theatre because he laughed so hard he disrupted the entire concert,” Vanya said flatly but there was a hint of a grin hiding at the edges of her mouth. 

Ben actually looked bashful for a second as he looked at the ground, and for that short moment, he looked just like the Ben they were all so used to and it hurt. “That was my fault. I was on stage and--” he waved himself off, “it doesn’t matter. I didn’t actually think he would get banned.” 

Ben visibly put that conversation on the back burner and turned to Five, “You know every single time he would get sober the first thing he would do is try to conjure you. He’s been to rehab eleven times and each time he would hyperfocus on trying to conjure you. He was so sure that you weren’t dead. He was so excited the day you came back.” Five looked both surprised and uncomfortable at that. 

Ben moved to Diego who had a pained look on his face already in preparation for whatever would come his way. Ben sighed and placed a tentative hand on Diego’s shoulder that the others eyed jealously. “You were the only one that didn’t immediately discard Klaus. You were there to pick him up from rehab a couple times, came to the hospital when you were called, gave him rides when he needed them. So thanks, Diego. You certainly weren’t perfect and you still never believed that I was actually there, but you didn’t punish him for it.” 

“And you,” Ben snarled as he turned to glare at Luther. 

“What?” 

“You’ve belittled and mocked him. You’ve looked down at him for our entire lives and only deign to notice his existence when you want something from him. You literally strangled and then threw him across a room when he couldn’t summon dad for you. Not that he hadn’t tried that already. Not to mention that shit storm at the rave!

“So pardon me for not being as welcoming as you thought I would. You all have let each other down, but none of you more than Klaus.” 

“Look, we know you probably feel protective of him because you spent so much time together,” Allison said softly. “But let’s not pretend Klaus is anyone or anything but what he is.” 

“And what is that?” Ben demanded. 

Allison looked uncomfortable and wouldn’t answer. She looked at her lap and avoided Ben’s accusing glare. Luther answered though, “He’s a junkie and a mess and a disappointment.” 

Diego looked angry and Ben watched those deft fingers spin the knife in his hand impossibly faster. Ben may be mad at his family, but he didn’t want any blood on the ground here. He just wanted them to know that Klaus deserved better. That’s all. 

“He’s a good person,” Ben said. “I think the real reason none of you want to deal with Klaus is because part of you recognizes that Klaus is the best brother you’ve had over the last decade and a half and you’ve constantly ignored him. Klaus is the one who will forgive harsh words and dismissive actions. He’s the one that sees the best in all of us. Klaus may not believe in the Umbrella Academy, which some of you have never moved past, but he believes in you as people.” 

Vanya nodded unsurely, her eyes flicked between Allison and Five. Five looked unimpressed but he was listening, which was a tell in of itself. Diego’s eyes were on his fingers, or rather his knife, but he didn’t look about to argue. Allison was silent and removed in a way she’d rarely shown before. Luther, on the other hand, looked obstinate and increasingly angry. 

But Ben didn’t let him talk. “Klaus is a mess,” he said. “Klaus is a drug addict who is trying his best to live in a world that drives him steadily insane. But he’s trying. He reaches out to his family whenever he can and has been met with nothing but derision and judgment. Maybe if you took a moment to acknowledge him you’d see why I’m protective instead of just deeming him a problem and nothing more.” 

Ben stood up, making sure he didn’t drop his precious waffles and brushed his pants off. “You wanna know why there’s a disconnect? Because I see Klaus and you guys don’t, and after years and years of Klaus being the only one who could see me, I get that feeling. Klaus has made mistakes. A lot of them but it’s not like you guys were there to help him. We’re back in the past to help Vanya, right? Because we ignored her for so long, but she wasn’t the only one. Klaus is my brother and he’s annoying as shit sometimes, but he’s a good brother. Can you guys say the same?” Ben traced Klaus’ footsteps from earlier and walked back into the mansion. He stuffed a waffle in his mouth and hoped his siblings would listen to what he’d said. 

**Author's Note:**

> I know Klaus isn't an angel, but hey, he's still loving and tries to emotionally be there for his siblings even when he's ignored.


End file.
